According to Hall Couny Fire Marshal Scott Cagle, those winds were the main cause for downed trees and power lines in Gainesville proper and outside.
"Riverside Drive (was) blocked in two different places because of downed trees and power lines, the main spot is at Enota Drive (intersection)," said Gainesville Fire Chief Jon Canada.
Riverside Drive was closed for more than three hours as crews worked to clear the area of downed trees. Cumberland Valley Road was also closed for most of the evening, reopening just after 9:00 p.m.
Ken Roberts, engineering supervisor with Georgia Power, said that as of 9:00 p.m. Wednesday, 228 customers in the Riverside Drive, Crestview Terrace and Rosewood Drive areas, among others, were without power due to the storms.
Those in the Riverside Drive area weren't to expect power to be restored for at least another four hours.
"We've got six band wires down on Riverside Drive and the majority of our crews are in that location," Roberts said.
He also said that he hopes to have the other power outages restored in the same time period as Riverside Drive.
"There's a bit of a hold up because most of our resources are at Riverside, but we aren't ignoring the other areas by any means," Roberts said.
Other areas in Gainesville affected included Park Hill Drive, Green Street Circle and Club Drive.
"At one point in time lanes were blocked in those areas too," said Hall County's Cagle, "but city firefighters (did) a great job of getting (trees and power lines) out of the way.
"We just thank goodness that at this time there seems to (have been) no damage to any structures and no injuries to any people."
Downed trees also impeded through-traffic on Blueberry Hills Drive in Hall County, according to Cagle and while power lines are downed there as well, it's not known at this time how many customers were affected, if any, or when power will be restored.
A spokesman for the Gainesville Police Department reported at 5:00 a.m. Thursday that all power had been restored.
Jay Jacobs - A downed tree blocks traffic at Club Drive in Gainesville
Katie Crumley - Crews work on downed tree on Riverside Drive Wednesday evening
Katie Crumley - A tree was uprooted on Riverside Drive after storms passed through Gainesville Wednesday afternoon
Katie Crumley - Crews work to remove a tree that was downed when severe storms moved through Gainesville Wednesday
http://accesswdun.com/article/2012/8/251590